A little Weakness
by captainme
Summary: Anamaria's fear of appearing weak is ever present... but how far will she go to prove she's just as strong as any man? Oneshot. R&R please!


Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with the movie and stuff like that, blah blah blah.

**A little Weakness…**

Anamaria lay on her bed, her arm clutching at her side. Her face was buried in a pillow to drown out any noise from her sobs. A bang on her door brought her out of her little bubble, and alerted her that she was no longer completely alone.

"Anamaria I need you on deck." Jack paused for a brief moment. "Now!" He waited patiently for about a second for a reply, before banging on the door again.

Anamaria lifted her head from the pillow, her teeth biting into her bottom lip as she winced in pain.

"Alright Captain, I'll be on deck in a minuet." Ana surprised herself with how strong her voice had sounded. This answer seemed to satisfy Jack as she heard his boots on the wooden floor, leading him away from her small cabin. Anamaria let her head sink back into the pillow for a moment, letting out a long groan before moving to get up.

Shaking slightly, Anamaria stood and walked to the end of her cabin. Slowly bending down, winching in pain as she did so, the pirate lifted up a loose floor board which concealed a bottle of spirits, a needle and thread. Ana downed half the bottle in one long gulp before lifting her shirt to reveal a long wound. It started just below her left breast and went diagonally, finishing at the top of her navel. With shaking hands Ana poured the rest of the bottle over the wound, hissing as she did so. Taking a leather belt, Ana placed it between her teeth before moving on to threading the needle. Finally she began to stitch her own wound, biting down into the belt as the pain became too much, tears spilling down her cheeks once more, yet she didn't stop until she had finished. Eventually when the wound was sewn up, she let out a sigh of relief, her chest heaving with each breath she took. Her body felt weak and drained but she knew she couldn't risk lying down in case she fell asleep. No doubt Jack would soon be on his way to bang on her door once more if she didn't get back up onto deck fast.

Walking over to a small bucket that sat in the corner of her room, Ana washed her eyes with the lukewarm water, hoping it would bring down any redness in her eyes. She had done all of this to stop the men from thinking she was weak, and she would be damned if her eyes were going to give anything away. Sighing Anamaria quickly changed her top, discarding the old one onto the floor. Ignoring the pain that bit into her side, and the slight weeping of the wound, Ana headed outside.

* * *

Jack looked over to the top of the staircase, grinning as he saw Anamaria finally emerge from down below. Waltzing over to her in his usual manor, he didn't fail to notice his first mate's slight off colour look. Choosing to ignore it instead of saying anything, he spoke.

"Oh good- it's about time you showed up. I requested you on deck over ten minuets ago Anamaria." He paused for a moment, letting Anamaria realize that he was annoyed with her if she hadn't figured it out before. "If you cannot cope with your position, I'm sure I could find you a more…" Jack waved his hand, trying to express his words. "Suitable one. Savvy." Anamaria glowered at her captain. If only he knew…

"Sorry capt'n, it won't 'appen again. What do you need me t' do." Jack frowned at his first mate; he thought that by now she would have known what was expected of her without receiving the orders. They were the same every time, and this most certainly wasn't the first battle they had won since sailing together. Sighing, he began to draw out to orders.

"The usual Maria. I need you t' count up the dead, the injured and asses the damage, then assign people to repair said damage." Pausing for effect Jack carried on. "Do you think you could possibly managed all that by yourself, or do I have to ask Gibbs t' do yer job for you?" Ana glared at the pirate, resisting the urge to slap him.

"Do not patronize me Captain Sparrow." A grin appeared on Jacks face for a moment, before his eyes spotted a rough red mark on her shirt. He narrowed his eyes at it, becoming lost in thought, therefore missing Anamaria's next remark. Ana rolled her eyes, the temptation to slap him coming back again. Deciding that slapping him would probably leave her in more trouble then already and not really having enough energy to go through with that, she settled on poking him to bring him back to the land of the living. "**Captain**." Jacks eyes finally snapped up, looking at Ana's face once more.

"Huh? What?" Ana sighed, clearly unimpressed.

"I asked if that was all _Captain._" Jack opened his mouth a couple of times, each time closing it before any sound came out.

"Aye… aye, run along now, do yer work." He waved his hand as though to 'shoo' Anamaria away. Her response was to simply growl as well as glare at him as she went off to do her duties. Jack however was still lost in thought, his mind beginning to work over time.

He had already noticed Anamaria's pale face, along with the slight blood shot eyes. Now noticing a blood stain on her shirt, he began to wonder if his first mate had injured herself and simply not told anyone. Of course then his mind contradicted itself, convincing Jack that she wouldn't be stupid enough to work with a bad wound, or even as it seemed, get one. Finally happy with his conclusion Jack snapped himself back together, heading off to do some much needed work… counting the swag that they had just plundered.

* * *

Jack returned to the deck of his ship quite a few hours later. The ship they had sacked had held more then they bargained for- not only in gold but the much needed food too. Although counting his swag was by far one of Jacks favourite chores as Captain, it was still often tedious at times. And that had happened to be one of those times. Standing at the helm of _The Black Pearl_, Jack looked around with a smile on his face, happy to see that most of the blood stains had been removed and that the dead was no longer littering the place. His smile faltered however when his eyes laid on a familiar lady pirate grasping the railings of the ship. A little _too_ tightly. His eyes twitched to focus better on the woman, noticing how much her chest was heaving with every breath she took, and the fact she was clutching her side. The same side he had noticed the bloody stain on earlier. Before he had a chance to go over to her, Anamaria was approached by Gibbs, who quite obviously had a burning question for the lady. Watching curiously, Jack noted how quickly Anamaria's demeanour suddenly changed when approached by someone. That little bit of weakness over what he assumed to be an injury, had quickly disappeared and in its place was the confidence that made most of his crewmen cower in fear. Then as soon as Gibbs had left, and she was sure no one else was around to see her, Anamaria let herself slump against the railings again.

Jack began to walk over to her, making sure he was being heavy-footed on the deck to alert her of his presence. He doubted she would appreciate knowing he had seen her with her slight weakness. She turned to face him, the confidence present again, only a mere glimmer of pain was visible on her face and in her eyes- and you would only realize this if you knew about it.

"Anamaria can I see you in my cabin please." Anamaria quickly began trying to think of an excuse to get out of the meeting with her captain. She wasn't sure how much more pain she could take before breaking down again and Captain Sparrow often seemed fond of long drawn out talks over the current affairs on the ship. Noticing he had already begun to walk away, Ana sighed realizing she wasn't going to get out of it, _just_ yet. Following Jack into his cabin, Anamaria closed the door behind her. Hoping to get the little meeting over and done with as soon as possible she began to talk.

"Captain there were fifteen men dead, and thirty injured in the battle. Only about three of the injured are said t' be critical and about ten will be off work for as long as a week, the others can begin work again t'morrow. As fer the damage-" Jack interrupted the pirate lass as she spoke.

"Anamaria lift up your shirt." Ana studied her captain for a moment before stepping forward and slapping him around the face. So hard it left a mark.

"Captain Sparrow-" Anamaria began before Jack cut her off once more.

"I would be grateful if you wouldn't keep slappin' me like that luv, now, like I asked, lift up your shirt- not so much as t' flash me- unless of course you want to?" A grin appeared on the pirates face for a brief moment, catching Anamaria's hand as it flew towards his face once more. "Guess not then… but lift up your shirt." Ana narrowed her eyes at her captain, panic beginning to spread through her like wild fire.

"Why?"

"Do as your told Anamaria." Ana opened her mouth to protest a couple of times but no sound came out. Finally, she lifted her shirt high enough for Jack to see the slash that graced her stomach. Nothing happened for a moment or so, then Jack brought his fist down hard on the desk making Anamaria jump. His eyes flashed with anger and for the first time she was physically scared of her captain. "Anamaria what the hell were you **thinking** working with a wound like that?" Ana's eyes were lowered so he couldn't see the emotions pouring through them.

"I can handle it." Jack was glowering at her, his nostrils flared with anger.

"Obviously not. Do you think I haven't noticed the lack of performance in you since that battle? Why on _earth_ did you not get yourself down to Dexter immediately?" Ana's eyes flashed up to meet Jack's.

"Because **_Captain_** I told you, I can handle it." Jack's face was hard; his eyes still holding angry fire.

"Like I said- you obviously can't! Those stitches are terrible." Anamaria glared back, beginning to get just as angry with Jack as he was with her.

"Captain Sparrow it is very hard to do stitches on yourself when you're in extreme pain." Jack raised his hands, turning them into tight fists and made it obvious he would love nothing more then to hit something right at that moment.

"Doesn't that just prove my point that; one, you should have gone straight to Dexter to do them for you and two** you shouldn't have been working!**" Jack paused taking a deep breath to try and calm himself down. "Anamaria I do not appreciate it when my crew defy me, much less my first mate. Now those… stitches if you can call them that, will have to be taken out so the wound will have less chance of getting infected. Now go to Dexter and get out of my sight." When Anamaria didn't move it caught Jack by surprise. "Did you not hear what I said? Scat! Go get that wound taken care of. I can't have my first mate off injured for longer then I have to." Once again Anamaria didn't move. "**Anamaria.**" Jack made his voice low and threatening, finally causing a reaction in the woman.

"I'm not going to Dexter. I would rather risk the wound be infected then go to that… to that… _carpenter_. He's not laying a hand on me." Jack sighed, bringing his hand to rub his temples as though he had the beginnings of a headache.

"What?"

"I'm not letting him touch me Jack. I won't. I don't care what you say; I'm not going to him." Jack's face clearly showed how confused he was at her reaction.

"Why?" Anamaria stayed silent, her reason for being so unwilling was obvious going to stay with her. Sighing again Jack's face twitched as he tried to think of something. "Lie on the bed." Immediately Ana's head rose from staring at the floor, her eyes showing she was somewhat confused.

"What?"

"Lie on the bed. Do I have to repeat everything to you Anamaria? Those 'stitches', can't stay in, and if you wont let Dexter take a look at you- for whatever reasons- I'll do it." Anamaria looked at him liked he'd grown a double head.

"You can't be serious. You can't do stitches and things." A grin graced Jack's face as he headed over to a cabinet at the far end of his cabin. Like Anamaria had done before, he pulled a bottle of sprits out, a needle, and some thread, although along with those utensils a piece of cloth and some tweezers were also found to be in his hands.

"You'd be surprised. Bed. Now." Reluctantly Anamaria laid down on his bed. Jack followed, pulling a chair along with him and setting it down next to her. Ana lifted her shirt once more to reveal the bodged job she had done of sewing herself back together. Without another word Jack began to undo the thread work, ignoring Anamaria's shaking as much as he could for both her benefit as well as his. He had almost finished unpicking when he finally spoke again. "Ana luv, if you keep digging your nails into your hands like that, it won't just be your stomach I'll be havin' t' patch up." Anamaria let out a small nervous laugh, allowing her grip on her palms to loosen for a moment or two. Finally the last piece of thread was out and Jack held the bottle of sprits over the now once more open wound. "This'll sting like a bitch." Anamaria nodded, waiting with slight anticipation for the pain. She hissed as he poured the alcohol over the bloody mess. "Sorry." Ana had become shaking rather violently, and the more she tried to hide it, the worse it seemed to get. Tears had begun to fill her eyes once again and she squeezed them shut, determined not to let Jack see her cry. Jack pretended not to notice these reactions and began to set about stitching the slash once more.

"Correct me if I'm wrong Ana, but this isn't the first time you've had a bad wound and not told anyone is it?" Ana shook her head. "Thought not." The pair were in silence for a while before Jack spoke again. "Why don't you tell anyone… why don't you tell me? It can't just be for you apparent dislike of Dexter." Ana swallowed hard before speaking, her voice wavering slightly. Once more, Jack pretended not to notice.

"I don't want t' seem weak." Jack laughed at the irony of it, while finishing the last stitch.

"There good as new." Ana sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed so she was facing her captain once again, although her head was facing downwards. "Anamaria, just because you have a wound won't make you appear weak in anyone's eyes. Actually it might make you seem slightly more human to the other sailors to be honest. Look-" Jack reached out and lifted her chin with his hand so she would have to look him in the eye. "You are one of the strongest people I know, by far the strongest woman and a hell of a lot stronger then most of the men on this ship. You have nothin' t' worry about. They all respect you, and even if one of them did think you were slightly weak, I would bet all the rum in the world that they wouldn't 'ave the nerve to tell you it t' you face." Ana's eyes searched Jack's, her heart racing, her breath hitching in her throat.

"All the rum in the world huh?" A small smile graced Jacks features, his voice becoming soft.

"Aye. All the rum in the world." The pair stayed, trapped in a spell for a few minuets before Jack lent forward, his lips barley brushing against Anamaria's, when a knock on the door brought them back to earth breaking the spell that had entranced the two. Gibbs voice could clearly be heard on the other side of the door, requesting the captain's assistance. Jack cleared his throat slightly, reluctantly getting up.

"Aye Mr. Gibb's I'll be out with you in just a moment." Jack who had walked over to the door turned back to face Anamaria, who had been watching him. "Ana… stay there… this conversation isn't over with, _just_ yet…" With a smile, he walked out of the cabin leaving Anamaria to her thoughts, her mind in overdrive wondering what had just happened between them…

* * *

A/N I don't know what the point of that nice little story there was, I don't actually think there is one… when I began writing it I didn't have a plot in mind, all I had was the beginning stuck in my head which didn't seem to want to go away. Anyway please **review** whether you liked it or not, I still would greatly appreciate your thoughts! Ta! **Captainme**


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